Conflict Security and Development Series Spring 2010: Roma, Pygmies, Uyghurs and Dalits: How the UN Attempts to Protect their Interests

Publication Date:

02/18/10

Description:

Gay McDougall, United Nations Independent Expert on Minorities, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Discrimination against minority groups is a pernicious reality in all regions of the world. The exclusion and marginalization of groups of people from the political, economic, and social mainstreams of their larger societies on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, or mother tongue is one of the leading causes of armed conflict, and a waste of human potential. This talk will focus on the institutional mechanisms developed by the UN Human Rights Council to prevent such tragedies and protect minority groups.